History of Fairview

Located in the hills approximately 5 km west of Oliver, lies what remains of the former gold mining boom town of Fairview. The town was given its name for the overlook of the valley it had, which was described as a ‘fair’ view.

Records indicate that Fairview first caught the eye of gold miners in the early 19th century, when two men known as Reed and Ryan came to pan for gold at what is now known as Reed Creek, to the southeast of the Fairview townsite, though they had little luck finding any significant amount of gold. Little did they know that there was gold aplenty underground in the area, first being found by Fred Gwatkins and George Sheehan who staked their claim in 1887. The following year, the first mine, the Stemwinder, began operations at Fairview.

Within 5 years, Fairview became a boom town, with 10 mines, 5 stamp mills, and 4 hotels operating in the town by 1892. By the turn of the century, an additional 3 hotels and 2 stampmills, 2 grocery stores, 2 livery stables, 2 churches, a post office, a blacksmith, a butcher shop, a laundry, a school, a drug store, a government building and a jail were present in the town. Among the hotels was Hotel Fairview, built in 1897, which was considered one of the finest hotels in the interior of British Columbia until it tragically burnt down in 1902.

The loss of Hotel Fairview signaled the beginning of the decline of the town. The following year, in 1903, the price of gold dropped, and that combined with the mines surrounding Fairview beginning to be exhausted of resources, resulted in all the mines being closed by 1906. The population of Fairview also began to sharply decline at this point.

It is estimated that at the height of its popularity, Fairview had a population of close to 1000 people, with 500 men being reported to have been employed by 1892. By 1907, the Church of England’s registry in Fairview showed only 145 people living in the town. In 1933, the Morningstar Mine would reopen, bringing a brief resurgence to Fairview, although only 4 houses in the town site were permanently occupied by this point, as Oliver had become the main center of the area. The Morningstar would, however, be minimally profitable during this period and would decrease production by the 1940s and cease altogether in 1961.

Today little of the old town remains, as the buildings were gradually deconstructed and relocated, like the Presbyterian Church which is now the United Church in Okanagan Falls (moved as a whole) and the Fairview Jail which found its new home on the Oliver & District Museum grounds. Other buildings were lost to fire or nature. All that remains at the former town site today are ruins of a stampmill and other former mining infrastructure, some building foundations, planted fruit trees, a judge’s house (on private property and still lived in), and a commemorative cross marking where the Presbyterian Church once stood.